By the way, if you're interested, the Hurricanes have actually addressed how the alternate jersey scheduling process works. Near the end of last season, a Tweetmail article by Michael Smith published to the team's website broke it down.

Could you explain the rules around wearing the alternate jerseys and also the away jerseys at home? – Jamie K. (@jbk_ltd)

Sure!

NHL teams are permitted to wear their alternate uniforms 12 to 15 times a season. The Canes wore their black thirds 12 times in 2013-14, including once on the road in Florida. In this case, the team had to receive permission from the Panthers to do so.

Similarly, the Canes had to receive permission from Tampa Bay and Columbus to wear their new white sweaters at home.

When planning out and submitting the alternate schedule to the league, a few caveats are considered. The Canes prefer to wear their black third uniform set against opponents who do not wear black pants. Looking at current uniform combinations, that eliminates Anaheim, Boston, Calgary, Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, Los Angeles, New Jersey, Ottawa, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and San Jose. Out of 12 third jersey dates this season, 11 were against non-black teams; the Canes wore their thirds versus New Jersey on Nov. 29 – also Black Friday.

As far as wearing black on the road, as the team did on March 27 in Florida, a one-off trip is ideal since wearing both white and black on a multi-game trip would require lugging two sets of equipment.

For the same reason, wearing white at home is ideal against a team who is on a one-off trip, like Columbus was on March 29 in Raleigh.

Interesting tidbit on the team preferring not to wear the black jersey against teams that wear black pants. Sometimes there are details you just never think about.